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Friday, 2 December 2016

Review - 'The Flash', S03E08 - 'Invasion!'

Despite being advertised as such, the
most recent episode of Supergirl
really wasn't the beginning of the major cross-over event that we had
been promised – and, it wasn't really intended to be. For clear
proof of that, you probably don't need to look much further than the
fact that that episode's only real point of connection to the
cross-over (the scene in which Barry and Cisco travel between
dimensions, to recruit Supergirl), ended up being replayed, in its
entirety, in this episode of The Flash.

I suppose you could
make an argument for false advertising if you really wanted to –
but, in the end, I don't think it's all that big an issue. It's a
three-part cross-over, featuring the characters from all four shows,
rather than a four-part one – and, it begins here.

It doesn't waste
any time, either. Opening with a very entertaining sequence which
sets the Flash and Green Arrow against all of their allies, for
reasons yet to be revealed, the episode then promptly pulls the
fairly standard trick of jumping backward in time to reveal how we
reached this point. Here, we learn that Wally West's training in the
use of his new abilities seems to be progressing well – although,
Iris is fairly adamant that this particular piece of information
should be kept from Wally. Also, Cisco is still angry with Barry,
after learning of Barry's indirect role in his brother's death –
and, he is taking any opportunity that presents itself to make his
displeasure known. H. R. Wells, meanwhile, is determined to go ahead
with his plan to turn Star Labs into a museum – though, naturally,
he is having a tough time selling the idea to the rest of the team.

So, from that
fantastic opening scene, we shift to what seems to be a perfectly
ordinary episode of The Flash – though, of course, that
doesn't last long. Learning of a rapidly incoming meteor, Barry heads
out to investigate, only to find himself confronted by what appears
to be an alien ship – and, the rampaging horde of monstrous
creatures it carries. This reveal also gave us what would have to be
one of the funniest moments of the episode – as Barry, despite his
own super-powers, was left so stunned by the sight that he could do
little more than stare, helplessly, as the alien creatures rushed
off.

From there, though,
it is back to business. From Lyla, Barry learns that this strange new
threat, an alien race dubbed the Dominators, have visited Earth
before – and, much like on that previous visit, their current
intent is likely to be far from peaceful. From there, Barry resolves
to gather together a team that can help him take on this new threat –
a team which, of course, consists of characters drawn from all of the
CW's other DC related programs.

After the somewhat
disappointing lack of any real cross-over elements in the last
episode of Supergirl, it was actually genuinely impressive to
see how quickly everything began to come together, here – with the
alien threat being introduced, and the team of heroes gathered,
almost by the end of the episode's first act. It was fairly obvious
that no one involved in the making of this episode wanted to waste
time with any sort of gradual build-up – and, as a result, we were
given much more time to simply enjoy having all of these characters
on-screen together.

There was
definitely a lot to enjoy about this early sequence, too. There's
Supergirl's first meeting with the rest of the cast, after being
brought over from her own Earth by Barry and Cisco – with the sheer
joy she seems to take in getting to meet all of these characters
feeling very genuine. There was, also, Barry's hilariously awkward
efforts to play the part of 'team leader', after being nominated for
the role by Oliver – along with the incredibly unsubtle prodding he
received from Oliver.

Then, of course,
there was the whole training exercise sequence – a much too brief
scene in which the entire cast tries, and fails, to take on
Supergirl. Honestly, I found myself wishing that this scene could
have been much longer – I would definitely have enjoyed, for
example, the opportunity to see everyone take a turn against
Supergirl, one-on-one. I just think that would have made for a fun
sequence.

Of course, this may
have been the first (proper) part of the epic Invasion!
cross-over – but, it was also an episode of The Flash. And,
as such, it felt appropriate that this episode would also devote some
time to continuing its various plot-threads. 'Flashpoint' actually
became a fairly significant sticking-point for much of the episode,
after Cisco took it upon himself to force Barry to reveal everything.
Honestly, as someone who hasn't been overly impressed with the
season's treatment of 'Flashpoint', back at the beginning of the
season, it has been very interesting to see it become the catalyst
for so much drama, recently – with all of that seeming to come to a
head, here.

While it could be
argued that Barry deserved the somewhat harsh treatment that was
directed at him, throughout this episode, I don't really think that
the same could be said for Wally West. Honestly, the oddly dismissive
treatment that Wally was forced to endure from those around him
actually started to genuinely bother me, by the end of the episode.
Iris and Joe's almost outright refusal to even acknowledge that
Wally's new abilities might make him an asset, or even to consider
the possibility that he should be able to make his own decisions
(with Iris even going as far as pressuring the rest of the team into
lying to Wally about the progress of his training), was played to
such a heavy-handed extreme that it began to feel as though the
writer's were deliberately setting him up for failure – an
impression which seemed confirmed later, when Wally's one, very
brief, moment of heroism ended with him being injured, almost
immediately. I have no idea what the long-term plan for Wally West
is, of course – but, that entire sub-plot definitely proved to be
an unfortunate weak-point in an, otherwise, very entertaining
episode.

Of course, the big
draw of the episode was the confrontation that we were able to
briefly glimpse, in the opening scene. With Oliver and Barry forced
to contend with a team who had managed to fall under the influence of
Dominator mind-control, the action-sequence that results is really
everything a fan could possibly want from such a large-scale
cross-over. It is a sequence which is made up of so many great little
moments – with the scenes of a mind-controlled Supergirl chasing
the Flash through the streets of the city easily standing out as one
of the best moments to feature in any of the CW's DC series. The
entire set-up also, cleverly, allowed for a major conflict to be
added to the episode, while still keeping the Dominators, themselves,
in the background, for now.

The first episode of this large-scale
cross-over event managed to get things off to a very impressive
start. It was an episode that managed to balance to pure joy of
seeing all of these characters on-screen together with a surprising
amount of genuine drama – and, it also all came to an end with a
truly fantastic action sequence. Sure, you could probably argue that
the episode didn't actually do very much to introduce the nature of
the threat that this wildly varied team of heroes are set to face
(since we don't actually see very much of the Dominators) – but,
for now, I don't think that actually matters.